This is page numbers 5877 - 5944 of the Hansard for the 18th Assembly, 3rd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was report.

Topics

Some Hon. Members

Agreed.

The Chair

The Chair R.J. Simpson

Thank you, committee. Thank you to the Minister, and thank you to the witnesses. Sergeant-at-Arms, you may escort the witnesses from the chamber. Committee, we have agreed to next consider Bill 57, An Act to Amend the Employment Standards Act. I will turn to the Minister responsible for the bill to introduce it. Minister Cochrane.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to be here today to discuss Bill 57, An Act to Amend the Employment Standards Act. The primary objective of the Employment Standards Act is to ensure protection for workers by providing minimum standards of employment. The amendments put forward in the bill strengthen worker protection by enhancing parental leave and creating new types of leave for family caregivers and those experiencing family violence.

The parental leave changes in this bill will allow workers to take longer, unpaid parental leaves, providing job protection at this very important time in their lives. When combined with pregnancy leave, a worker could take up to a year and a half off to care for their newborn baby, which is six months longer than is currently protected in the act. Employees who share the leave with their partner are eligible for an additional eight weeks of leave, encouraging parents to share the benefit between them. A longer period of parental leave allows employees who are eligible for federal parental EI benefits to access the new extended parental EI benefits and EI Parental Sharing Benefit and take full advantage of a longer period of leave.

This bill also allows more workers to take time off work to care for family members in times of need. It creates a new family caregiver leave to care for family members who are critically ill or injured, and it extends compassionate care leave for end-of-life care by an additional 19 weeks. For both of these types of leave, the bill expands the definition of "family member" so that more workers can provide care to family when it is needed, regardless of their blood relationship.

Finally, the bill takes the significant and important step of creating family violence leave, a new type of leave in the Northwest Territories. This will provide a combination of paid and unpaid leave to support workers in responding to different types of family violence situations. Workers may be entitled to time off work to seek medical attention, attend counselling, relocate, or attend legal appointments. Introducing family violence leave is an important part of protecting workers in times of need.

These amendments align with the Government of Canada's changes to the Employment Insurance program and the Canada Labour Code and offer employees the flexibility to address personal situations while maintaining their employment status.

The department engaged stakeholders on the proposed amendments through stakeholder interviews and an online survey. Thoughtful and positive feedback was received from residents, business, labour, and community organizations across the Northwest Territories. A "what we heard" report is available on the ECE website.

I would like to recognize the hard work of the Members of the Standing Committee on Social Development during the review of Bill 57. These proposed amendments support our Northwest Territories workforce in navigating important and oftentimes challenging moments in life by strengthening job security during time away from work. Mahsi cho, Mr. Chair.

The Chair

The Chair R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Minister. I will now turn to the chair of the Standing Committee on Social Development, the committee that reviewed the bill, for any opening comments. Does the chair have any opening comments? Mr. Thompson.

Shane Thompson

Shane Thompson Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Standing Committee on Social Development concluded its review of Bill 57, An Act to Amend the Employment Standards Act, on August 8, 2019, with a public clause-by-clause review held at the Legislative Assembly building. Committee held a public hearing on Bill 57 in Yellowknife on July 25, 2019. The committee received two commissions, one from the Gwich'in Tribal Council and a joint submission from the NWT Seniors' Society and the Canadian Cancer Society, which also sent a representative to present the submission to the committee at the public hearing.

On behalf of the committee, I would like to thank everybody who provided input on Bill 57. The committee supported the government's efforts to better align with our territorial Employment Standards legislation with the recent changes made to the Canadian Labour Code and the federal Employment Insurance program, as well as to update certain provisions to better protect Northwest Territories workers.

Individual Members may have additional comments or questions as we proceed with the consideration of this bill. We would also like to thank the Minister and the department for the work that they did, as well as all of the people that did provide their commissions and the committee's work. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The Chair

The Chair R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Does the Minister wish to bring witnesses into the chamber?

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Yes, I do, Mr. Chair.

The Chair

The Chair R.J. Simpson

Thank you. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the chamber. Minister, please take your seat at the witness table. Minister, please introduce your witnesses for the record.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my left is Michael Saturnino, who is the director of Labour Development and Standards, and on my right is Kelly McLaughlin, who is the drafter for the legislation. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The Chair

The Chair R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Minister. Could you please, once again, slowly for the record, introduce the witnesses? We didn't quite catch the names.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my left is Mr. Michael Saturnino. He is the director of Labour Development and Standards. On my right is Kelly McLaughlin, and she is the drafter. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The Chair

The Chair R.J. Simpson

Thank you very much, Minister. Welcome to the witnesses. Committee, I will open the floor to general comments on Bill 57. Do we have any comments from committee? First, I have Ms. Green.

Julie Green

Julie Green Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is one of these unsung but very important, bills that would make a difference to the lives of many families in the Northwest Territories in a number of different ways, not only for families in extreme circumstances like those facing family violence, but just ordinary working families, especially given the shortage of childcare in the Northwest Territories. This could really be an important incentive to having families staying longer in the Northwest Territories, because they are able to stay at home with their children for a longer period of time, so I am pleased to see the changes that are in this bill, and I will support them. Thank you.

The Chair

The Chair R.J. Simpson

Thank you. Next, I have Mr. O'Reilly.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thanks, Mr. Chair. The Minister may recall that I raised the issue of how our parental benefits system was out of sync with the federal one. The federal system, they brought their changes in. Originally, I think they were supposed to start July 1st. They pushed it forward to March, so, under the federal system, they provide EI benefits. The difficulty was that our legislation did not ensure that employers kept the jobs for those people if they went off. I did push to have this bill brought forward in the life of this Assembly, so I want to commend the Minister and her staff for undertaking a very quick turnaround time to get this bill back into the House, and the committee for their work, as well, because we do not want our parents and families to not enjoy the benefits that most other Canadians are getting. I want to also commend the Minister and the department in reviewing the types of leave that are provided under here to include domestic violence leave. I think that is a very important improvement, so I just want to thank and commend the Minister and department for their hard work to get this back into the House so our parents are entitled to the same benefits as everyone else. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

The Chair

The Chair R.J. Simpson

Thank you. Any further general comments? Seeing none, we will move to a clause-by-clause review of the bill. As usual, we will defer consideration of the bill number and title until after consideration of the clauses. Please turn to page 1. I will call each clause individually. If committee agrees, please respond accordingly.

Some Hon. Members

Agreed.

---Clauses 1 through 12 approved

The Chair

The Chair R.J. Simpson

Mr. O'Reilly.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Sorry, I wanted to ask about clause 14, if I may.

The Chair

The Chair R.J. Simpson

So we have agreed to clause 13?

Some Hon. Members

Agreed.

The Chair

The Chair R.J. Simpson

Clause 14. Mr. O'Reilly.

Kevin O'Reilly

Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I had asked the Minister in the clause-by-clause when this bill is going to be coming into force, and I would like to get it on the record in the House, as well. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

The Chair

The Chair R.J. Simpson

Thank you. Minister.

Caroline Cochrane

Caroline Cochrane Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Basically, the act will come into force, the proper terminology, it comes into force on a day or days to be fixed by order of the Commissioner. The plain language standard of that is that we are working on the regulations right now. We have the orders to get them through. We have the regulations to get the regulations done. This is important. This is critical. This is about children and families and family violence, so I will be pushing my department as hard as possible, and Justice, to try to get it done, so it's a priority for us. I can't say the date, but we are working really diligently to get them done. We need the regulations done, but we are on it. Thank you, Mr. Chair.